Remembering May

We’ve been here just over a month. Can I possibly be getting nostalgic already?

Well, May 10th was a lovely spring day; the sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the trees were green. I mean, super green!

In this case, the green is maple seeds — the leaves had not emerged yet.

The day was what a Californian would call chilly (10C / 50ºF) with a breeze, but the sun was warm. Today, a month later, the temperature was not chilly (29C / 84ºF), and it’s just going to get hotter and more humid from here.

In early May, the stone fruit trees were blooming at the jardin botanique. The cherry trees were putting on a show, and some of the early magnolia were too.

In the paths near the Japanese garden, the rhododendrons filled the understory with purples and pinks.

Over this last winter, the grand old weeping willow in the Chinese garden broke in an ice storm and the gardeners ended up removing it. This particular path in to the Chinese garden has changed in character greatly without it, but in May the cherry blossoms offered a gentle entrance.

The combination of cherry trees and magnolias made for some very evocative scenery. This did not go unnoticed by families taking portraits and groups of cosplayers who were doing their photoshoots for TikTok and/or Instagram.

The theme of the day was white and pink and blue skies. The magnolias joined in enthusiastically.

So, are we feeling nostalgia for the cold days of early spring? Maybe a little.

Well, to be perfectly honest, I was going to post pictures from this weekend at the garden, when we biked over under threatening skies. It wasn’t so warm, and it seemed like it was going to rain at any moment. Rain threat or not, it was a lovely day among irises and peonies.

However, when I started to create an article, I noticed that I’d prepped these pictures back in May and never posted them. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly, thus this chronologically disordered offering. The more recent pictures will join them here soon enough.